halloween walks
by clairebxrton
Summary: A conversation on the way to a haunted house / crossposted to tumblr and ao3. family fun. part one of my fictober 2k19 series.


A/N: So I'm sorta-but-not-really-but-kinda participating in 2k19 that's on tumblr, slightly. it's less official because i'm terrified if i make it official and i don't complete it, i'll just be so disappointed with myself so i'm not going to be making any promises. it's just for you guys and myself. anyway, review, fave, y'know tell me what you think. i have a beta, but all mistakes are my own.

* * *

Raivis shook as he followed Eduard up the street, "I'm not sure I want to go to a haunted house," he said, pulling his sweater closer to him.

It was mildly cold in New York, where the rest of the nations had convened to get ready for Mr. America's Halloween party that was thrown every year. Normally most nations waited to get together until a few days before any major holiday – sometimes even waiting until they had only enough time to take the plane to wherever they needed to go – but this year, Mr. America had decided to host them all for the entire month of October.

It was causing some trouble. Namely, most people had fallen bored after seeing as much of New York City as they cared for. Raivis had let himself be dragged around to all the sites that Eduard had trouble seeing during official meetings.

"Raivis-" Eduard held the 'a' until the slightly younger looking nation shot him a look. "A haunted house is exactly what we need. We'll get some spooks and then by the time it's time for Mr. America's Halloween party – which I heard from Tino, who heard from Rootsi, who heard from Taani that it's going to be held in a _real_ haunted location – you won't be scared!"

The nation of Latvia held back a sigh. There was far too many 'heard froms' not enough actual information. "But haunted houses are jump-scare based!" Everyone got scared when some stranger jumped out of nowhere and yelled at them. It was common sense.

"It'll be fun," Eduard said, waving off his worries, "trust me!"

Or well, with a side eye, it was common sense."I do trust you," Raivis began, "But-"

Eduard paused in his steps, turning to face him, "If you really, _really _don't want to go, then we can instead go to the library or a movie, but I really think this will be fun."

Raivis frowned. It wasn't that he didn't want to go, it was just that he wasn't sure he, y'know, _wanted_ to go. "Where's Taurys?" He asked instead, ignoring the droll look the other gave him.

"Taurys is going with Feliks to find a Halloween costume," he answered, shaking his head as he did so. "You'd think he'd already have one when he opted to come to a _Halloween_ party.

There went the only way out of going, Raivis thought as he nodded his head, "Well then I guess I don't mind going," he said after a moment. "Though I think you're far too excited about getting jump-scared."

Eduard smiled brightly. "I love scary things," he replied, grabbing Raivis' wrist, yanking the handmade sweater slightly. Raivis glared at the hand slightly. He quite liked the sweater and the way Eduard was pulling him, the elasticity would be harmed. "Not as much as Tino, mind you, but there's something about Halloween that reminds me of the good old days when I'd walk around amongst my people and we'd worship nature and the gods and-"

"So like last week?" Raivis rolled his eyes. The way Estonia went on about magic and nature and the old gods and the forest witches and the other weird things to come out of his country left Raivis' head swimming with useless information. "Aren't there enough crossroads to summon the devil here?"

Eduard forced out a breath. "You have six toes and belong in a zoo," he muttered under his breath before adding louder, "You can't just _summon_ the devil at any old crossroads and you know my mythology isn't the only one that's weird."

"My mythology is fine," Raivis argued, all fear of the haunted house erased, "You believe in kleptomaniac sticks coming to life."

"Kratts aren't kleptomaniac sticks brought to life." Eduard's face went bright red, letting go of Raivis as he did so. "They're - well - you know what, I'm not going to be judged by someone who believes that the souls of dead children cause sleep paralysis."

"It's a thing!" Raivis shook his head. "You are just uncultured."

"This coming from someone with six toes." Eduard scoffed, rolling his eyes as he did so. "I think I'll take being uncultured over having six toes."

"I do not have six toes!" Raivis frowned, "I will take my boot off and show you my normal toes right now if you don't take that back."

"If you do that then we'll miss the haunted house," Eduard said, pulling out his phone. "It's bad enough the New York subway runs on magical invented time, we don't need to add extra minutes to you fumbling with your shoes."

"Well then take it back," Raivis said, cheeks burning slightly. Now that he was flushed from annoyance, he was able to notice that it was a mite colder than he thought it was originally. "And aren't you cold? You aren't even wearing a sweater."

"I'm not taking it back: you have six toes, no manners, and you're myths are weird-" He paused and smiled slightly, "I'm not cold either because I made sure to wear that really warm undershirt that Taurys made for me - unlike you."

Raivis groaned, "I completely forgot about that!" The undershirt was, Raivis assumed, was blessed or something because no matter how cold it go, it never stopped keeping him warm - not even last Christmas where Mr. Russia forced everyone to go to his home to celebrate it. Turning his eyes to glare at Eduard, he said, "You know, if you told me you were going to be dragging me out of the hotel, I would've worn it."

"Well what did you think we were doing when I said I wanted to go somewhere?" Eduard asked, confusion on his face.

"Tino's room? The sauna room? The rooftop bar?" Raivis could go on and on about the different places he expected. "You could've decided to go back to Time Square to figure out if you really hate it as much as you said you do when we first got here."

"No." Eduard shook his head, "I really hate it. Too many people and so many of them trying to talk to you or interact with you or - I don't know any of them, why would I do any of that?"

And Taurys called him antisocial when he refused to leave after getting hooked onto a new book series.

"And Time Square is still outside." Eduard added as he pulled Raivis down the steps to the subway platform.

Raivis made a face. Stupid not-brothers and their stupid ideas. Stupid haunted houses.

* * *

Rootsi = Sweden  
Taani = Denmark  
Kratts are literally kleptomaniac sticks brought to life, thank you very much, watch November if you don't believe me. Also don't sell your soul and/or fake sell your soul to a devil at the crossroads in a forest.  
The souls of dead children giving you sleep paralysis is a thing I read on some Latvian website, google translate might've lied to me, so *shrugs* tell me if I'm wrong.  
Saying that Latvians have six toes is a thing that Estonians do for some reason. I don't see how that's an insult, but it's a thing.  
Also, I'm a mainland New Yorker, so like my understanding of NYC falls are limited to the one time I went there, my mother's recollections of the time she was there, and weather maps. Where I live, it's currently 45°F ( 7°C) but feels colder so I'm cold.  
Last thing, Times Square sucks. All my family agrees. It's just touristy and boring and there's way too many people trying to get your attention, or talk to you, or sell you something, or harass you, and I don't like it. It was fine for the first five minutes I was there then I grew to hate it. So should anyone ever go there, stay for an hour at most, not a whole day.


End file.
